Aesma Daeva - The New Athen Ethos (2003) APE

Aesma Daeva - The New Athens Ethos

When one thinks of gothic metal, America is not the first thing that comes to mind. It's probably the last. The American music industry is based on money only, not art. And thats exactly what the problem is. When truly great bands, such as Aesma Daeva appear, they are overlooked and pushed way underground. Ok, now on to the actual review. I'm sorry, I had to rant.
This is probably my favorite Aesma Daeva album. Its probably one of my favorite albums period. But that doesn't mean that this album is without flaws. The first song, The Origin of the Muse, is an absolutely amazing song. The minute and a half long intro to this song may fool some. It is although a hint of what is to come, but I'll explain that later. Anyways, the intro makes you think that this will be some ho hum ambient song, in the vein of the latter half of the debut(not that I didn't like those songs, but they are quite mellow). Then all of a sudden you get this blast of sound. The song only picks up from there. Within the 8 minutes of this song, there are so many changes. The riffs change, the tempos change, the vocal style changes. Going from a soft ambient intro, to frantic riffing and double bass drumming, to doom with horns. The Origin of the Muse is anything but boring. The downfall is that you are expecting an hour long album of this awesome metal portrayed in the first song. That is where you are wrong.

Next up you have one of the many soft instrumentals laced throughout the album. Track 3, The Sons of Heaven, is an awesome doomy track. Again we have another ambient instrumental. By this point, you are only wondering how many more of these until another metal song. Atma is one of the rocking tracks. It is a quite good song, as are all the other actual songs. Now brace yourself. Once again you have an instrumental. An instrumental lasting around 7 minutes if you round up. And then another instrumental, then another. 8 songs have just passed and only 3 of them have even been with vocals. And is it just me or does Sirens sound way similar to Aviva I? Finally we are saved by the next song. It is one of the best from the album, and probably the band. And then there is yet another instrumental. The last song starts off leaving you the impression that there is, yet again another instrumental. About 2 and a half minutes into the song, it picks up with some pleasant guitar and vocals. The song only progresses from there to become a calm doomy type of song.

I make this album sound like it is way worse than it really is, or deserves. It's just that when you get a taste of the more metal side of Aesma Daeva, thats all you really want to hear. Yeah the instrumentals are nice, but there is just too many of them, and that is my only complaint. If it were not for the instrumentals, I would have probably given this album a 100%. The little ambient songs are most likely there to set the greek themed mood, and that they do. So I guess they serve their purpose. But still, so many are not necessary. My advice is to listen to this when you want to relax, that is when it would be best enjoyed.

With about 15 minutes of these soft abstract songs, the majority of the album, the other 34 minutes believe it or not are still, for the most part, pretty rocking. No death metal or speed metal here, but the songs still rock. And besides, the instrumentals are short, with the exception of 2 of them, and beautiful. So take this beautifully crafted album for what it is and enjoy it!
- marier, April 14th, 2007

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1. The Origin of the Muse (8:16)
2. My Lost Melody (1:40)
3. The Sons of Heaven (5:38)
4. Aviva I (1:20)
5. Atma (5:03)
6. Artemis (6:39)
7. A Gathering of Shades (0:36)
8. Sirens (1:21)
9. I Have Sailed With Odysseus (6:57)
10. The Dawn of New Athens (16:43)
11. The Garden I Long For (3:43)

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